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[TheGreatDeceiver]

Sadly enough, I'm a recent college grad with a degree in history (emphasis on teaching), but I find my taste in reading goes less toward historical scholarship than to primary sources; I'd much rather read Eugene Debs than read about him. As a result, I've found myself hardly reading anything that would be considered new and interesting, even popular, historical research. Could anyone recommend something like this (aside from journals which I actually do read on occasion)? My interests are vast and indiscriminate so feel free to recommend anything! Thanks!

[spiney]

http://www.wired.com/table_of_malcontents/2007/02/revisionist_sta/

[IrishJazz]

Ulysses Grant's Autobiography is wonderfully written... of course Mark Twain might have helped

"Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman" or "What Do Care What Other People Think" by Robert Feynman are both worth checking out.

[whitedevilbrewing]

I've read some good stuff in my classes lately (I'm a history major too), so here's some of it.

Simon Schama- Embarrassment of Riches. about the Dutch golden age

Sidney Mintz- Sweetness and Power.  About the role of Caribbean sugar in the development of the European/world economy.

Geoffrey Parker- The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, if you like military history, it's a good and detailed account of the Dutch Revolt.

One I just heard about today which supposed to be good, Laurent DuBois- Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution

If you have more specific (European mostly ) topics you like, ask... I read a lot of books, as I'm sure you know.

[spiney]

To atone for my above sin, this not new, but IS interesting, The World Turned Upside Down, how religious mania led to the English Civil War .......

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/0140137327/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

This - from the British Spy writer Len Deighton (Ipcress File, etc) - is excellent:

http://www.amazon.com/Blitzkrieg-Rise-Hitler-Fall-Dunkirk/product-reviews/0785812075/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

[IrishJazz]

Maybe I have this wrong, but my impression was he was looking for writing by the original sources rather than interesting histories. 

Another in the former vein:  "Quartered Safe Out Here" by Flashman author George Macdonald Fraser.

[whitedevilbrewing]

Maybe I got it backwards.  Clarification plz?

[spiney]

Ah, in that case me too! Fair rebuke, apologies.

I can't recommend anything new, but you might look at:

T E Lawrence's little read The Mint, online:

http://telawrence.net/telawrencenet/works/the_mint/contents.htm

In similar vein Ginger You're Barmy, a novel, but describing the end of UK national service from 1st hand experience:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/0140066403/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Arthur C Clarke's Glide Path is an amazing 1st hand account of the development of radar under wartime conditions. The description of physicist Alvarez - ham fisted and unable to deal with everyday life - is hilarious!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/0283986123/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Sagittarius Rising, C D Lewis' aerial combat experiences in WW1:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/0751509310/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Nautlias 90 North, 1st ever journey under the polar pack ice:

http://www.amazon.com/Nautilus-90-North-Military-Classics/product-reviews/0830640053/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Chuck Yeager's autobiography (including how he broke the sound barrier):

http://www.amazon.com/Yeager-Autobiography-Chuck/product-reviews/0553256742/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

....... you might also find the Paleofuture Blog interesting:

http://www.paleofuture.com/

http://paleo-future.blogspot.com/

Orwell Diaries Online:

http://orwelldiaries.wordpress.com/

Also Homage to Catalonia (at same site):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homage_to_Catalonia

Also the volumes of Arthur Koestler's remarkable autobiography (he was personally involved in many pivotal 20th century events):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Koestler#Autobiography

[TheGreatDeceiver]

Maybe I have this wrong, but my impression was he was looking for writing by the original sources rather than interesting histories. 

Sorry that this wasn't more clear in my OP. I find myself reading original sources more often than not rather than reading the work of historians, and I was hoping the boards could recommend some secondary sources for me to play "catch up" (which you guys definitely delivered!). I appreciate all the recommendations, they'll go in my Google spreadsheet of "Books to Read 2010"!

[Benx6444]

"To Rule the Waves"

"March of the 10,000"

"Stasi"

"Radical Son"

"Guns, Germs, and Steel"

"The Great Gamble"

"Albion's Seed"

"The Gulag Archipelago"

[spiney]

I found The Gulag extremely difficlt, as much of it comprises long lists, bit like biblical genealogies ..........

[whitedevilbrewing]

To Rule The Waves is good, but it may be a touch, er, congratulatory toward the British Navy.  He works it into everything.  Often justified, sure, but if you read this and no other maritime/early modern world history, your perspective would be a little screwy.

Thought of another one- Vermeer's Hat by Timothy Brook.  Very interesting book.

[KarenX]

I don't know if this book counts as history, exactly, but it's by the guy who wrote The Professor and the Madman (about the Oxford English Dictionary):

Krakatoa by Simon Winchester

I listened to this book on CD during a road trip and was interested in every word. The reviews on Amazon are mixed, and I don't disagree with the low ones, but the qualities other people perceived as negative (although true) didn't bother me. It's part history of the science of plate tectonics, part geology, part history, and some other stuff. Even if his conclusions about geopolitics (yes, there's geopolitics in the book) are dicey, they are interesting. I thought about the book for a long time. I liked the OED book, too, but it didn't stick with me in the same way.

[Benx6444]

I found The Gulag extremely difficlt, as much of it comprises long lists, bit like biblical genealogies ..........

Hmmm? Really? What Volume did you read? I'm finished with the 1st Volume and I didn't come across any lists.

[IrishJazz]

"The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhoads is a very entertaining and informative read.